The potentially fatal condition involves in intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat. A distorted perception of body weight, size, or shape leads an anorexia person to restrict food intake to the point of deliberate starvation. One percent of teenage girls in the United States develop anorexia nervosa and up to 10 percent of those may die as a result.

Diagnostic Criteria (DSM-IV-TR):

Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height (e.g., weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected; or failure to make expected weight gain during period of growth, leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected).

Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat, even though underweight.

Disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experienced, undue influence of body weight or shape on self-evaluation, or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight.

In postmenarcheal females, amenorrhea, i.e., the absence of at least three consecutive menstrual cycles. (A woman is considered to have amenorrhea if her periods occur only following hormone, e.g., estrogen, administration.)

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Some common physical effects and health risks:
(may be one, a few, or all)